The Price of a Cat's Meow? £10,000!

When Jean Kelly's cat Cadbury stopped meowing, the vet diagnozed a paralysed larynx which was blocking its throat. So what did the pet lover do?

After a stint in intensive care, six days in an oxygen tent, four months nursing care and regular check-ups, the 13-year-old Moggy had run up a bill of £10,000. [...]

Cadbury is back at home and on the road to recovery in Olney, Buckinghamshire - sitting in his favourite spot in the conservatory and miaowing in delight. “It was never about me – it was about Cadbury and his quality of life. I know he’s not a young cat but I wanted to give him a fighting chance,” she told a Sunday newspaper.

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(Photo: Steve Nicholson)


i am beginning to hate rich people more every day. THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT CAT. it probably suffered more for the surgery than for the inability to meow. did no one ever tell this woman about the starving children in africa? or asia? or detroit?!
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we treat our pets better than our fellow man.

Yeah, because pets are all spoiled and worshiped and never, ever abused! No one's ever bothered to spend several times more money on curing a sick family member! Damn humans!

And I'm just sure sw doesn't have any money at all to spare on him/herself, seeing as how it's all been donated to the poor starving children in the world.

Pets are family and people can handle their money how they wish. Put up or shut up.
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*shrug* It's her money. Although I would consider the amount excessive considering the surgery wasn't life-saving in nature, I wouldn't condemn her for spending it, if she could afford to do so.

P.S. I love the way the British spell "meow" as "miaow."
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No, stupidity at its zenith.

Humans are usually worth the extra money. A cat? You have to draw the line somewhere. I'm sure a lot of people would be willing to fork out the big bucks to get their cat to shut up once in a while.
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If I may... Spending that kind of cash may seem silly to us, but it's done regularly and there's not much we can do about it. The good that does come of it though, is that animal medicine is furthered each time an event like this happens.

As we all know, even a "frivolous" operation offers a vet the chance to experiment, and learn. Ideas and solutions come from this.
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But I must add that a 13 years old cat is really old.
According to this chart :
http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/agechart.htm
The cat had 68 years old. Is it worth that much money? I think that the operation, at that age, could do more arm than good anyway. The cat stopped "miaowing" probably because it's just getting older.
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No comment from Johnny Cat?

On a different note. I had not heard of a divide on US/UK spelling on “meow”/“miaow” so I did a quick search and apparently it can be spelt many ways eg miaow, miaou, miaul, mew which are all accepted English and not necessarily country based.

I don't know but I think 'miaow' is more common in Oz. However the question is...how does everyone pronounce it?
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I spent 2000 dollars trying to save a cat a few months ago and it died anyways and i'd do it again without hesitation...but in this case it sounds like the cat went through a potentially dangerous surgery. I wouldn't risk a cats life over something trivial like its ability to meow.
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Thirteen isn't old for a cat - ours is 20 and apart from getting a bit stiff in cold weather and only leaving the house under hydraulic pressure she seems as contented as ever.

HOWEVER - if anything beyond trivial occurs she's for the chop.
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@Tempscire, as a matter of fact I run the largest soup kitchen in the state of Maine. I put my money, and more importantly my time, where my mouth is every day of the year.
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My friends cat is constantly "losing her meow-er"
She just walks around opening her mouth and trying to meow, but no noise comes out.

Its the funniest thing ever!
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